


glass animal

by freezingsheep



Series: razorback [2]
Category: RuPaul's Drag Race RPF
Genre: a missing scene from razorback!, friendship angst; jealousy; uncontrollable sobbing; What More Could You Need
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-10
Updated: 2019-06-10
Packaged: 2020-04-24 07:56:03
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19169029
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/freezingsheep/pseuds/freezingsheep
Summary: “Oh, no,” she laughs despite herself, “you’re not going anywhere.” She pokes Vanessa’s chest with the bat, accusatory. “You’re gonna get your ass into some pants and explain yourself, bitch.”





	glass animal

**Author's Note:**

> a few ppl asked for some more razorback so,, here it is! featuring a'keria trying her best, vanessa being enigmatic as always, and some all too obvious 'sheep misses being polyamorous' hinting.

A’keria wakes to someone screaming and scratching at her back door.

Her half-asleep brain spins the metaphorical wheel and picks fight over flight, sending her running out to the backyard with a baseball bat in hand, a stream of expletives coming from her mouth.

“Who the fuck,” she yells, swinging the door open. “Why the fuck, how the fuck, what the-”

Vanessa stares at her from the other end of the bat, hair bloody, completely naked. Her eyes are wild, panicked, and she’s hunched over on all fours like some scared animal.

“Fuck,” A’keria finishes, whispering, unable to comprehend the scene in front of her.

Vanessa coughs, readjusting herself to kneel and calmly pushing the baseball bat from her face with a single finger. When she speaks, her voice sounds like it hasn’t been used in months. “I know this is a little weird, but I just need to use your shower real quick, and then I’ll be on my merry little way.”

Vanessa has long been the type to downplay a serious situation if she’s at the centre of it, and for the most part, A’keria tries not to pry. She lets Vanessa handle what she can on her own, and offers support from the sidelines. She’s always hated it when Vanessa disappears, sure, but she figured the girl was somewhere safe and out of trouble. She’s never answered any questions, never mentioned where, who, why; she just leaves. So, A’keria does her best to step back, and let her work through whatever it is she’s doing, frustrating as it is.

But this, finding Vanessa stark naked and blood soaked in her backyard, this is _absurd._

“Oh, no,” she laughs despite herself, “you’re not going anywhere.” She pokes Vanessa’s chest with the bat, accusatory. “You’re gonna get your ass into some pants and explain yourself, bitch.”

She holds out her other hand, hauling Vanessa to her feet and promptly leading her inside. She leaves the bat by the door, and plops Vanessa down on the couch, trying very hard to pay more attention to the blood in her hair rather than her small, muscular frame. After rooting around in her room for a few minutes, A’keria unceremoniously chucks a pair of shorts and a sweater right into Vanessa’s face, and takes a seat next to her.

Vanessa sighs as she pulls the sweater over her head, settling into the soft, loose fabric and crossing one leg over the other. “So,” she breathes, avoiding eye contact. “What did you wanna ask me?”

A’keria immediately stands again, so she can pace about like an annoyed housewife who’s been waiting two hours for her husband to come home with the groceries.

“What do you I wanna ask you,” she repeats, and Vanessa braces herself for the oncoming rant. “You vanished during Christmas for, what, the millionth time? I ask you about it every year and I can never get anything out of you." There's hurt in her voice, and Vanessa still won't meet her eyes. "And now, this time, you show up in my yard buck ass nude, screamin' at the top of your lungs," she throws her hands up, practically boring holes into the floor with how hard turns on her heel to continue pacing. "What kinda question do you think I wanna ask you?"

Vanessa seems to think for a moment, before smirking guiltily, and shrugging her shoulders. "How did I get blood in my hair?"

A'keria isn't sure if someone can die of exasperation, but she feels like she's pretty close. "That's one of them, yes." She pinches the bridge of her nose, taking a deep breath. "Where have you been, Vanessa? What the fuck have you been doing?"

A silence follows, tense, palpable. Vanessa chews on her lower lip until she tastes blood. "I don't know what you want me to tell you," she murmurs, tentative tone strange and worrisome to A'keria.  

"The truth, baby."

It's now that A'keria realizes just how serious this particular situation might be. Vanessa hates crying in front of others. Hell, A'keria could count the times she’s seen her cry on one hand. So when Vanessa finally looks at her, tears dripping down her face, and gives a bitter little chuckle, A'keria stops pacing and races to her side.

"You wouldn't believe me," she half laughs, half blubbers. "Even if you did, you'd probably rather I disappear the whole year. Halloween, Christmas, April Fools. All the goddamn holidays."

A'keria slings an arm around Vanessa's shaking shoulders, and chooses to ask something from the most jealous recesses of her mind. "Does Brooke know?"

Vanessa’s hands fly to cover her eyes, and she _breaks_. A’keria has her buried in a hug before she can even speak. “Yeah, Brooke knows. Brooke knows every fucken thing, and I can’t go back to her after that. After what I did to her.”

A’keria holds her close, pets her hair, inhales the scent of blood and listens to her cry. She throws jealousy aside, and thinks back to the winter, to Brooke sobbing over the phone. To Brooke’s dead-eyed, drunken pleading of Vanessa’s name. She almost laughs.

"She misses you," A'keria sighs, holding Vanessa a little tighter when she shakes her head. "More than you think. More than you'd like, by the sound of it."

That grabs her attention. "What do you mean?" Vanessa sniffles. She keeps herself burrowed in A'keria's embrace, curled up like a child.

There’s no easy way to say it, no easy way to explain how badly Brooke has been dealing with Vanessa’s annual disappearance. “She’s a fucking wreck, girl.” She debates telling the absolute tale that was their New Years get together, but decides against it.

Vanessa barks out another sob, white-knuckling A’keria’s sleeves. “It’s my fault,” she hiccups, struggles to breathe, “how can I go back to her? How can I even look her in the eyes?”

“The same way you came back to me,” is what she says. _“What makes Brooke so different,”_ is what she doesn’t.

Vanessa sniffles again. “Naked?” she asks, and this time A’keria can’t help but giggle.

“No, not naked, you fool.” She takes a deep breath, and remembers what Vanessa apparently came here for in the first place. “Tell you what,” she sighs, running a hand up and down Vanessa’s back. “You go get your shower, I’ll call Brooke and tell her you’re back. That sound good?”

Vanessa nods against her after another few hiccuping breaths, finally pulling back and rubbing at her face with her sleeves. She looks up at A’keria with those sad puppy eyes of hers, and asks, “Can you make me some mac n’ cheese?” like they’re fifteen all over again.

A’keria smiles, and tries her hardest not to start crying herself. “Sure, baby,” she hums, and Vanessa smiles too; small, but genuine.


End file.
